


Cell 396

by CordeliaOllivander



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Azkaban, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/M, Facebook: Harmony & Co., Feelings Realization, Friendship/Love, Missions Gone Wrong, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-16 03:03:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21029195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CordeliaOllivander/pseuds/CordeliaOllivander
Summary: A simple investigation into the conditions of Azkaban prison leads to much more for Harry and Hermione.





	Cell 396

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [HalloweenHarmonyComp2019](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/HalloweenHarmonyComp2019) collection. 

> **Prompt:**
> 
> Harry and Hermione spend a Halloween investigating harsh practices at Azkaban when someone drops a potion bomb that knocks out their ability to use magic. Forced to spend a night together in Azkaban with no patronus to save them, how will they cope?
> 
> This piece was written for Harmony & Co’s Halloween Competition, Double Double Toil and Trouble. All canon characters, plots, dialogue, and situations from the Harry Potter series belongs to JK Rowling. I am not profiting from this work.

"Now remember,” Kingsley said to them, “the Dementors are only present at night, but their presence still haunts during the day.”

  
“And you think my word is enough for the appeal to go through?” Harry asked as he buttoned up his auror uniform.

  
“I do. You’re Harry Potter after all.” Kingsley added with a smirk. “And the great Hermione Granger, brightest witch of her age, rising star in the care of magical creatures division-“

  
“I am no where near as important as Harry in this equation.” Hermione said with a smile.

  
“No.” Harry said immediately. “You’re even more important than me.”

  
Hermione locked eyes with him and gave a soft smile. “You’re the only one that thinks that, Harry.” In an instant the moment was over and Hermione turned back to her robes and making sure her wand was securely fastened in its holster.

  
“Not many guards even want to work there, so I’m sorry to say you won’t have an escort.” Kingsley said to them.

  
“I’ll bring back a detailed report.” Hermione confirmed with a nod.

  
“I really appreciate this. I hate that it’s even taken a year to get them eradicated.”

  
“We’ll do what we can.” Harry said to him. “I hate them, too.”

  
“Alright, head to the DMLE . Once you’re on the island a guard will escort you inside, but then you’re on your own. Good luck.”

  
“I don’t need luck, I’ll be with Harry.” Hermione quipped.

  
Harry just rolled his eyes. “I never should have told you that.”

~  
  
They walked side by side down to the DMLE where the head auror had their port key.

  
“Are you sure this is how you want to spend this day, Harry?” Hermione asked quietly.

  
“It’s just a day, Hermione. I don’t even remember them.”

  
“Halloween will never be just a day, Harry Potter. Don’t lie to me like that.”

  
“I’m sorry.” He said immediately. Harry was just so used to telling people that it didn’t matter that he sometimes forgot that it really did. “I’ll be fine. We’ll get this done then we can go to Diagon Alley and enjoy the party.”

  
“I am looking forward to that.” Hermione said to him with a bright smile. George had decided to host a costume party at his shop and it somehow escalated into a huge event. Arthur was over the moon excited about it, saying how much fun the muggles had on their Halloween.

  
“He’s got so many ideas I wouldn’t be surprised if this became a yearly thing. Even Ron’s excited.”

  
“He seems so much happier, doesn’t he? I know he loved being an auror, but the job at the shop with George really seems to suit him.”

  
“I’m glad he’s found his place.” Harry agreed.  
  
Harry knocked on Head Auror Robard’s office door. Once they were permitted to enter he held the door open for Hermione then went inside.

  
“Ready to go then?” He asked.

  
“Yes, Sir.” They both answered.

  
He handed Harry the small beat up pocket watch. “Keep it on you. The small gear on the side activates your passage home.”  
“Got it.” Harry accepted it and held it out for Hermione.

  
“Just a few more seconds. Be careful you two.”

* * *

  
  
Harry really hated all modes of wizarding transportation except for flying. He always felt sick and landed face first. Luckily Hermione caught him this time, but the force of the wind nearly took them both down anyway.

  
“Come on!” Harry shouted. Keeping a tight grip on her hand he ran to the entrance of Azkaban prison.

  
“Auror Potter. Miss Granger.” A guard greeted once they entered the small lobby like room. He performed a warming charm on them both to dry their clothes and Harry shivered at the feeling.

  
“Thank you.” Hermione sighed. “That was less than pleasant.”

  
The guard just snorted in a dark kind of laughter. “Just wait. You’ll have to turn in your wands. You’ll get them back when you leave.”

  
“Why?” Hermione asked. No one told her she would have to give up her wand.

  
“Protocol, Miss. All visitors of the prison have to surrender their wands at check in.”

  
Harry and Hermione looked at each other, then handed their wands over.

  
“We’ll be in and out anyway.” Harry assured.

  
Hermione didn’t have a good feeling about this, but rules were in place for a reason.  
  
They were scanned by the guard for any other weapons they might have had on them, then we waved them on. “Down that hall. There’s a big staircase and that will lead you to each level. Dementors come out at eight. Be sure you’re gone by then.”

  
“Yes, Sir.” Harry said with a nod. “Thank you.”

  
“Ready for this?” Hermione asked.

  
“Let just go.”

  
Looking at the heavy steel door Hermione squared her shoulders and pushed it open. She could feel the despair as soon as she opened it, like a wave that washed over her entire body. “There’s no Dementors here right now?”

  
Harry shook his head. “I feel it, too. It lingers.” He remembered the look on Dudley’s face even hours after the attack that happened fifth year, and these prisoners lived like this every single day with no escape.

  
“Harry, do you remember that time Hagrid was sent here? How did he do it?”

  
“No idea.” He answered honestly. “At least we still have the warming charm.”

* * *

  
  
As they made their way down to the lower levels the sickening feeling only got worse. Harry made sure to note exactly how he felt and what he saw. Some of the prisoners acknowledged their presence, others just stared at the walls or babbled on about nothing at all. He’d even recognized a few prisoners that he’d put there personally. They didn’t go down far enough to where the convicted Death Eaters were being held, Harry didn’t think it would be wise to have them see him here.

  
“I think we’ve got everything.” Hermione rushed out. “This Place is horrid! It makes me want to head straight home to write my report up tonight!”

  
“Yea.” Harry said absentmindedly. “Just one more thing.”

  
“What else-“ Hermione turned to look at Harry but he was already down the hall. “Harry, no. We’ve been over this.”

  
“I have see it.”

  
“What for? Sirius’s cell is going to look like every other cell we’ve seen today. What if it’s occupied by someone else?”

  
Harry ignored her and kept walking. “Its not, I checked. I just have to see it. Thirty-ninth floor, cell six. We’re close. You can head back up if you want to, I’ll be right there.”

  
Hermione rolled her eyes then ran to catch up with him. “As if I would ever leave you, Harry. Let’s go then!”

  
Harry grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Thanks, Hermione.”

~  
  
Hermione didn’t let his hand go until they were standing right in front of cell number six. They stared at the open gate and the lifeless cell for a few minutes before Harry took a small step forward, then stopped.

  
“Harry?”

  
“Twelve years, Hermione.” He whispered.

  
“I know.” She said softly.

  
“He missed out on so much.”

  
Hermione came to stand beside him and rested her head on his shoulder and linked her arm with his. “I’m so sorry, Harry. I know that he cherished the time that he did get to spend with you.”

  
Harry too a deep breath. “Together?” He asked.

  
Hermione looked up and smiled at him. “Together.”

  
With linked arms they walked inside.

~

  
Their backs were turned. They didn’t see it coming. Just as the gate slammed shut behind them a potion bottle was thrown inside, breaking the glass the moment it hit the floor. A cloud of black smoke engulfed them and just like that their warming charms evaporated.

  
“Hey! Hey!” Harry yelled as he ran to the gate.

  
“Hello!” Hermione screamed.

  
“Hello!” Harry couldn’t make out the figure that was running down the hall, his eyes were watery from whatever was in that potion bottle.

  
“Harry, what’s going on? I can’t use my magic!”

  
“I think we’re trapped here.”

  
“What?!” Hermione screeched. “No, there has to be a way out.”

  
Harry pulled on the bars as hard as he could, but of course they didn’t budge. He didn’t think they would, but he had to look like he was doing something. Doing nothing while Hermione panicked was never a good idea. “I don’t know enough wandless magic to open the door.”

  
“I don’t think you can use your magic at all, Harry. The warming charm has disappeared, I can’t feel anything! That bomb had to cancel out our magic so we can’t use it.”

  
“How is that even possible?”

  
“Well, in advanced potions you can do virtually-“

  
“I don’t need an actual lesson, Hermione.”

  
She shook her head in an attempt to clear it. “Right, I know that. It happens when I’m-“

  
“Nervous and scared.” He said gently. “I know. I’m sorry, too.”

  
“What are we going to do?”

  
“I don’t know.” He answered honestly. “What time is it, anyway?”

  
Hermione reached for her wand holster to cast a tempus, then groaned in frustration. “I have no bloody idea.”

  
Despite the seriousness of the moment, Harry chuckled. “Oh, Wait!” He pulled out the pocket watch. “This thing says it’s only seven. Grab onto me!”

  
Hermione clung to him for dear life as she watched Harry turn the gear on the side.

Nothing happened.

“It’s no use. That bomb made it so we can’t use any magic at all. It cancelled out everything.”

  
“Okay, let’s just think about this for a second.” Harry began to pace the cell, then stopped suddenly and turned to Hermione. Her frightened face told him everything he needed to know. “You feel it, too.”

  
She nodded. “They’re coming.”

  
Harry rushed over to stand in front of Hermione, ready to take on the Dementor by himself. He’d be damned if he let them get to her.

  
“But it’s not eight yet.”

  
“Whoever locked us in here seems to have had a plan.” He said grimly.

  
Harry waited for the Dementor to reach their cell, but nothing ever came. He was relieved, but didn’t want to show it, just in case. “There’s no prisoners in this section, we might be okay.”

  
Hermione let out the breath she’d been holding, then rested her forehead against Harry’s shoulder blade. “We’re stuck in Azkaban.”

  
“We’ve been stuck in worse places.”

  
“Have we?”

  
Harry turned to face her and wrapped his arms around her. “It’s all about perspective.”

  
“This situation is horrible, Harry.”

  
“Yes, it is. But I’m here with you, so that’s something.” He brushed his knuckle against her cheek, letting his eyes glance down to her lips before he met her eyes again. “When have I ever let you down?”

  
Hermione felt herself leaning into his embrace, but stopped herself. Now was not the time. “We have to think of a way out of this.” Wiggling free from his arms she began to pace the length of the cell herself.

  
Harry hung his head but accepted the fact that the moment had passed. “We’re going to be here for a while, Hermione. The guards don’t come back until six in the morning.” He plopped down on the uncomfortable cot in the far corner of the cell and watched her.

* * *

  
  
Things were going all wrong, Hermione thought to herself as she paced around. This wasn’t how this night was supposed to go. She had zero ideas on how to get out of this mess and she didn’t fancy spending the night in prison with Harry Potter as her cell mate, with the threat of Dementors ever other minute. To top things off, Harry was looking at her in that _way_ again. That look that told her he was still serious about having a relationship with her. She and Ron had made it longer than Harry and Ginny, but neither relationship really lasted after the war. Things had just changed too much. Ginny didn’t understand it at first, but eventually things got better. Ron on the other hand saw the end before Hermione did, and their break up was much smoother.  
  
Harry had remained single this entire year, waiting for her to make up her mind, but she just couldn’t. It fizzled out with Ron, what if the same thing happened to Harry? She could never lose Harry, so it was better this way.

* * *

  
  
She was thinking again, Harry could see it all over her face. And not about how to get out of this mess, she was thinking about him. He could tell with the way she tried to steal glances at him every so often. He couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t give a relationship a try, for as much as Hermione loved giving the answers to questions she had always managed to avoid giving him an answer to this one. At first he thought it was Ginny, the two women had remained close friends and Harry’s break up with her didn’t go well at all, but he thought they’d made progress in rebuilding their friendship. He wanted Hermione, and has wanted her for the last three years, even if it took him too long to realize it.

* * *

  
  
Another hour went by before she said anything to him.

  
“I can’t think of anything.”

  
“I would be absolutely amazed if you had. Come here.”

  
Hermione’s shoulders slumped in defeat as she walked over to the cot and sat beside Harry.

  
“It’s going to be okay.”

  
Hermione barely nodded. “I know.”

  
A shift of wind and a bone chilling breeze swept down the hallway. Hermione just tried to focus on Harry, the last time they had encountered a Dementor attack Harry felt things so much worse than everyone else. He shut his eyes and breathed in deep, calming breaths.

  
“Harry, are you okay?” She asked nervously, taking his hand.

  
He opened his eyes and had the faintest of smiles. “Yea. They don’t seem to affect me as much anymore.”

  
Hermione laughed nervously. So it was just her then, how wonderful.

  
Harry’s thumb drew small comforting circles on her hand. “But now I have much happier things to concentrate on.”

* * *

  
  
_ All she could feel was the hurt Ron had left her with in sixth year, all the tears she’d cried that year felt like they were stuck in her throat in this very moment. How betrayed she felt when he left that night while they were on the run. How broken she felt at the loss of one of her very best friends. How she couldn’t imagine living without him, and how she was a mere sliver of her former self until he returned. How ruined she felt, and how even after his return, how miserable she was. How she thought nothing would ever be the same again and she had no idea what do to about that. She couldn’t fall in love with Harry and then lose him, her heart just couldn’t take it. They’d been locked in here for hours, and she’d just had enough._

  
“No, no.” Hermione sank the floor, and she felt Harry's arms wrap her up as tightly as he could.

  
“Hermione, it’s gone. It’s okay.” Harry soothed.

  
“It’s not okay!” She screamed. Wrenching herself free of him she fled to the other corner of the cell. “Nothing about this is okay! We’re stuck in Azkaban, Harry!”

  
“Hermione, I-“

  
“You just had to see it.” She seethed. “If it wasn’t for you we wouldn’t be here!”

  
The words were out before she could stop herself. The look on Harry’s face shattered her heart, she’d seen it before he’d turned away. She turned away from him, too, unable to take his dismissal of her. She should be strong enough to fight this, she knew that the Dementors feed on your emotions until all your left with is fear and complete despair. All she was doing was hurting Harry, and that’s the last thing she ever wanted to do.  
  
She shivered against the harsh cold that had settled in, scolding herself for not being stronger. Internally screaming to not let the tears fall. She was too lost in her own mind to notice that Harry had come to stand beside her. He gently draped his Auror jacket across her shoulders and she selfishly slid her arms inside as he wrapped her up in it.

  
“It is my fault, and I’m so sorry, Hermione.”

  
The sadness in his voice was just too much to take. She turned and threw her arms around him and cried into his shoulder. “Harry, I’m so sorry! I can’t lose you!”

  
“Hermione, I’m right here. These Dementors are going to have to do more than bring up a few bad dreams to get rid of me.”

  
She shook her head. “No, I mean I can’t lose you, ever. I need you, Harry.” She moved back and looked him right in the eyes. “I love you. I love you so much and if something were to ever happen to us, and we... I couldn’t bear it.”

  
Harry let out a deep breath and hugged her tighter. “Do you know how long I’ve waited for you to say those words?”  
“About as long as I’ve wanted to say them I would imagine.”

  
“I love you, too, Hermione.”

  
“None of this is your fault, I’m so sorry.”

  
“It is a little bit.” He smirked.

  
“I’m just so tired.” She breathed.

  
“It is after midnight, and these things are meant to drain you.” Harry pulled her over to the cot. “Lay down.”

  
“If another comes-“

  
“Then I will protect you.” He said gently.

  
Hermione laid down and pushed herself far against the wall, making room for Harry to lay beside her. Tucking one arm under his head he pulled Hermione close with the other.

  
“I love you, Harry.”

  
“I love you, Hermione.” Harry smiled as he leaned in slowly to kiss her.

* * *

  
  
Her breathing had evened out, and she was almost asleep when she felt that undeniable chill again. Harry’s body stiffened beside her, ready for the onslaught of mental agony the coming Dementor would bring. Hermione shut her eyes tightly and tried to keep breathing slowly.

  
_Harry’s here, Harry’s here, Harry’s here._

  
“You did it.” Harry said softly.  
She slowly opened her eyes and looked at him. “I did. All because of you.”

* * *

  
  
“Harry! Hermione!”

  
Hermione stirred from sleep to the sound of shouting.

  
“Hello!”

  
“Harry. Harry, someone’s here! Hello!” She scrambled over him and ran to the gate. “Hello! We're down here!”

  
“Hermione!”

  
“Ron!” She screamed. Harry had joined her by the gate and was now wide awake.

  
Several sets of stomping feet came running down the hall. “What the hell happened?” Ron asked as he stopped in front of the cell.

  
“We don’t know.” Harry rushed out. “We were just finishing up, then the gate slammed shut and a potion bomb went off. We’ve been stuck here ever since.”

  
“Alohamora!” Ron shouted as he pointed his wand at the gate. “Why does it never work when I do it?”

  
Hermione couldn’t help but giggle. “The potion bomb cancels out any magic. You’ll need a key.”

  
“Kingsley, we need the keys!” Ron yelled back.

  
“Got them!” Kingsley stopped short in front of the cell with a huge ring of keys. “Anyone know what cell this is?”

  
“396.” The trio said at the same time.

  
Harry looked at Ron, who looked back in understanding. “First place I checked.”

  
“It’s my fault. If I didn’t want to stop here we never would've been trapped.”

  
“You don’t know that, Harry.” Hermione reasoned. “Like you said before, this took some planning. What time is it anyway?”

  
“After four." Ron answered. "When neither of you showed up at the party, I just had a feeling, you know?”

  
Kingsley unlocked the gate and Harry ran right into his best friends arms. “Thanks, mate.”

  
Ron hugged him tightly. “What are friends for.”

* * *

  
  
Back at the Ministry Hermione sat with a thick blanket around her shoulders and a hot chocolate in her hands in Harry’s office. They’d each given statements about what happened, and now that the entire ordeal was over, all Hermione wanted to do was go home.

  
The door opened and Harry walked in and leaned against his desk. “Turns out that it’s not actually protocol to turn in wands upon entry. That guard wasn’t even a guard.”

  
“What?”

  
“He was the brother of someone that Ron and I put away last year for the selling and trading of illegal potions ingredients.”  
“But now he’s just going to end up in prison.”

  
Harry just shrugged. “They’re still investigating. For now though were free to go. I’ve taken a few days leave, and told Dorothy that you won’t be in either. You need to rest and I don’t want to hear an arguement about it.”

  
“No arguments here. I just want to go home.” She sighed as she stood up.

  
“I’ll make sure you get settled in.”

  
Hermione grabbed his hand. “Always a gentlemen.”

  
With a spin, they disaparated.

  
Harry looked around in slight confusion. “I thought you said you wanted to go home.”

  
Hermione looked around the living room of Grimmauld Place. “I am home.”


End file.
